"Sean bought it for me to wear to a party. I doubt I will ever wear it again but I am going to keep it. You never know when it will come in handy."
"You're not wearing that out of this house." He growls out. I wave him off not wanting to argue. I probably will never wear it again but it is going to hang there giving me the option if I so choose.
"Whatever. Let me see what I can get rid of." I start thumbing through each piece of clothing that hangs, only removing a handful of outfits I know I will never wear again but it barely makes a dent.
"How the hell did you accumulate so many clothes? Do you really need five pairs of the same color and brand of jeans?"
"Hey. What if I rip one or I want to wear that color but one of them is dirty? I have four more of the same jean for that exact reason. You never know what you want to wear until you don't have it available to you." He shakes his head unsure of what else to say.
"Where did Sean hang all of his stuff?" I laugh. Sean hang stuff? Yeah right. He folded everything nice and neat except for his suits, which sat in the hall closet.
"He didn't hang his clothes. Everything was folded and his suits sat in the closet in the hall." Brad shakes his head with a smile.
"What am I going to do with you?" Sliding up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, I lean back and survey the closet. I need to try to figure out how to make room for Brad not just in my closet, but in my life. He was so unexpected that I am still just trying to catch up. I guess the only way to make room for him is to start one step at a time and that means leaving him a spot to hang his stuff. Thank god, he doesn't have a lot of clothes to hang. If he did, I don't know what I would do.
Brad steps away, leaving me to peruse my outfits to rid anything I don't need. "Are you kidding me?" Brad yells from the bathroom.
"What?" I ask innocently. I know exactly what he is referring to and now I need to figure out how to make room in the bathroom for him, too.
"Woman. We need to work on your buying and hoarding skills. Did you buy every damn piece of makeup and beauty product in the store? Where am I going to put my razors, or my deodorant and cologne?" He sighs.
"I don't know." I look around and try to figure out what I can get rid of or move. Taking some of the empty or near empty make up containers and lotions, I toss them into the trash. "There." I look up at Brad with triumph but he just stares at me as if I'm crazy.
"That's enough room for my deodorant and shaving cream." I look back to the counter and sigh. This is going to be a long ass day if I have to go through all of my stuff to make room for him. Moving in together isn't easy.
Sean made it seem like a damn cakewalk. He put all of his bathroom supplies in the guest bathroom, all of his clothes were folded and put in two dressers that rest in the guest bedroom, and he let me furnish the entire house. I guess now that I think about it, Sean never really had anything of his own here. I never made room for him in my personal life. What does that say about me? What does that say about my relationship with Sean?
"We will figure it all out. This is a lot to deal with, but it will get easier, I promise. We will figure it all out together. Before you know it, we won't be arguing about you making room for me and us, it will just come natural."
"Maybe you're right. This is just weird for me."
"Didn't you go through this with Sean?"
"Not really. We bought this place together and when we moved in, I just sort of set everything up. He didn't want a say in anything. Just told me to decorate it how I wanted and he would work around it. I picked all the furnishings and decor, and when I hung all my clothes up, he didn't make a fuss and made room somewhere else for his. It was all very separate even though we lived together. I never thought much of it since I was always used to having my own space. Sharing this space with you is all new to me."
"Well, you sure do take up a lot of space." He jokes causing me to laugh.
"Let's go hang up some of my pictures and we can come back to making room in the closet and bathroom later. I have a feeling it's going to take some time to get that all done."
"Alright. I think there is room for your pictures and it won't be too much of an inconvenience." He swats my ass as I skip out of the bedroom causing me to squeal.
Looking at the pictures that rest against the wall, I'm thinking maybe this will be just as difficult due to the types of art he has.
"I don't think so." I say with mock horror on my face.
"Why not?"
"Because she is naked." The painting is beautiful with a naked woman posed in a sensual and erotic way but she is naked. People will see her and some may take offense.
"It's not a porno picture. It's art."
"But people will see her... nipples." I wave my hand gesturing to her boobs. I'm sure my eyes are as big as saucers as Brad just laughs.
"So what. This is our house. If they don't like it, they can look away. I'll hang it up in the spare bedroom if it will make you feel better but we are not hiding her away."
"Moving in with someone is hard work." I mumble.
"Let's take a break." Brads voice is deep and husky and I know exactly what he is thinking.
Brad has me forgetting all about making room in the house for him as he rains attention all over my body. This closeness between us, our joining together has me forgetting about all of our worries and enjoying the moment. And what a moment it was.
"The trick, kiddo," his mom replies slowly.
"Is finding someone who complements
you instead of completes you.
You need to be complete on
your own."
-The Fight and Fate
Chapter 13
"Lainey, please tell me we are not listening to this douche bag?" brad groans as I put Ed Sheeran on the radio knowing how much it irritates Brad.
"It's my favorite song. You wouldn't want to deny me that now would you?" It has been several weeks since that fateful day where Brad professed his love for me and I gave in. We've mourned the loss of Sean, moved on from the day I thought I was going to lose Brad during our trip to the mountains, and moved in together. Now we are on our way home from the store after getting everything for a BBQ with our family and friends to celebrate moving forward.
Just as Brad is about to reply, I hear a horn blaring followed by the screeching of tires before the impact of being hit by another car causes us to spin out of control and me to slam my head against the window shattering it and making me dizzy. It's déjà vu all over again but instead of my parents being in the car it is Brad and I. The car has stopped and I turn to look at Brad to see if he is ok.
"Princess, are you hurt?" I shake my head unsure when I see a small stream of blood sliding down the side of his face. I am about to ask him the same when I glimpse a car heading straight towards us without stopping. I scream out in warning but it's of no use. The impact of being hit this time has knocked me out until I wake sometime later in a hospital with a throbbing pain in my head.
When I finally open my eyes to the blinding light, Cathy is there in an instant fussing over me.
Where am I?
Why do I hurt?
Where is Brad?
What happened?
So many questions run rampant through my mind before I start to remember. Slowly it dawns on me that Brad and I were in an accident and now he isn't here beside me.
"Where's Brad? Is he ok? I need to see him!" I'm frantic now as Cathy shushes me. The beeping of the heart monitor goes off making my head hurt more with the shrill loudness of it.
"Honey, its ok. Brad is ok. He is in surgery now. He had some broken ribs, leg, wrist, and arm, a cracked skull among other things. They are working on getting him fixed up but it will be a while. They did say however, that he should be fine."
I thank my lucky stars that Brad is going to make it and that for once, fate has decided to let me keep him.
Hours go by as the nurse's fuss over me. I have a concussion, a fractured arm, scratches, an
d bruises. I guess I should feel grateful that is all I had endured from the car accident. It could have been a lot worse. But all it does is wrack me with guilt knowing once again, I am coming out of this nearly unscathed while Brad lies in a hospital bed being cut open and stitched. At least this time I didn’t lose someone over such a horrific accident.
Cathy stays with me along with Robert as we wait for news of Brad's surgery. Before long, they finally move him into recovery and we head over to see him. It took a lot of convincing but the nurses finally conceded that I was ok to move about. My heart is hammering and I am afraid that the moment I see him I will fall apart. I cannot lose him. It would be too much. I nearly lost him today.
Walking into his room, he looks fragile lying in his hospital bed. I rush to his side and take his cool hand in mine while weeping into his shoulder. I need to feel his big strong arms around me again. I need the smell that is all man and all him encompassed all around me, but most of all I need to see those beautiful green eyes staring back at me with love more intense then I have ever felt before.
I don't know how long I stay rooted next to his hospital bed with his hand in mine and my head resting upon his shoulder. I had fallen asleep only to be woken up by a hand gently gliding over my head and through my hair. I lift my head and glance at Brad to see him smiling gently down at me. I can't help the tears as they flow down my face while I start to rain kisses all over his bruised and battered face.
"Thank god you're ok. I was so scared. It felt like that day I lost my parents all over again." Slowly his smile fades as he realizes just how hard this was for him and for me. We nearly lost each other in the blink of an eye. I've felt loss but nothing compared to this.
"I promise you will never lose me. I'm strong and I have you to come back to. No way in hell am I going anywhere." He chuckles.
With his good arm, Brad pulls me close, resting our foreheads together and taking a deep breath before he speaks low enough just for me to hear. "I'm yours. As long as I have you, I will always come back. Nothing, not even fate, can break us. And if you must know, I believe fate has brought us together for a reason. We're forever, you and me. And I believe that is our fate."
The tears fall unceremoniously from my eyes and I can't help but smile at the truth in his words.
"You're right. For once, I actually believe fate brought us together because I belong in your arms as you belong in mine. I'm yours. Every piece of me is yours forever. And if fate decides to take you, then I won't be far behind."
***
'And if you really need him, fate won't let you lose him. Fate will bring him back. It may not be soon but he'll come back.' - Unknown
Whoever said this was right. I didn't need Brad in school. He was my friend but it wasn't our time. I lost him so my heart could fall for another. It was a test. Fate was showing me how to lose and be able to move on. She was setting me up for the ultimate loss. Because one day when we are both old and gray and god takes Brad from me, that will be my ultimate loss.
Brad came back into my life when I needed him most. For once fate got this right. Bringing Brad back into my life, even if the circumstances were tragic, was fates way of apologizing for what she had taken from me.
Because she knew.
She knew I needed him when I lost faith in everything.
...Know that we have met before
and that we will meet again.
I will find my way to you
in the next life and every life
after that
-Mia Hollow
Epilogue
50 years later
I watch as she takes a breath. It is her last as she is taken from this world. From me. I am grateful for many things in my life. I have had a good one. Whether I deserved it or not I have no regrets and am grateful for what I was given.
The day after I was out of the hospital so many years ago, I proposed to my beautiful Lainey. I knew the day I first laid eyes on her that she would be my wife, and I was tired of waiting. I didn't want to miss my chance to make her mine in every way.
She told me no. Can you believe that? I was so angry and hurt by her answer. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't expecting her to say yes right away but a straight no? That never crossed my mind. I figured I would have gotten some excuse as to why it wasn't the right time or questions as to why I was proposing. I had the answers to them all.
I spent the entire day fuming before I said fuck it. I stomped into the living room where she sat watching some sappy ass movie, threw her over my shoulder and carried her up the stairs to our bedroom even with my sore body and cast on my leg. Let me tell you, it wasn't an easy feat trying to make it up the stairs with all that was wrong with me. By the time I made it up there, I tossed her on the bed and told her it was time she listens. She was fuming and yelling at me that I didn't need to man handle her and there was nothing I had to say that would change her mind.
Have you ever had angry sex? Well if you haven't, you should try it. We fucked like rabid beasts. There was scratching, biting, rough pounding of flesh on flesh, and an explosion of pure pleasure that neither of us had ever experienced. I believe I still even have scars on my back from her nails as they dug into me in our frenzy to get under each other's skin.
I fucked her so good that she changed her mind and said she wanted to elope. We didn't of course, but it was a start. We planned a small and intimate wedding with just our closest friends and my family. There was maybe fifty guest's altogether. She was the most beautiful bride and woman I have ever set eyes on and I've seen many beautiful women.
We have lived a long and happy life together with her giving me two beautiful boys and the deepest love I could ever have dreamed of. She was my whole world just as I was hers. When we argued it always ended with us wrapped up in each other breathless and sated. We laughed hard and smiled every day because we had each other.
When the kids were older and in college, we found out she had stage three breast cancer. That was the hardest day of our life. I thought for sure I was going to lose her and I wasn't ready. We still had so many years together that we had yet to live. She couldn't leave me then.
My beautiful wife fought hard during that time and came out even stronger than I ever thought possible. To this day, I have thanked fate for bringing her into my life and not taking her from me during those few months she fought for her life.
As I stare at her lying motionless in her hospital bed, I kept my promise to her that day in the hospital after the car accident. I promised she would never lose me. I always knew that if I were to go first, whether it be years ago or even now, she would lose herself. I haven't left her bedside since she was placed here a week ago from a stroke.
The years have been good to us but it was inevitable that we would die. I always prayed she would go first because I never wanted her to live a moment without me. I secretly made a promise that when she leaves this life, I would follow soon after. I intend to keep that promise.
So I lay here holding my beautiful wife in my arms after her taking her last breath and pray god takes me soon because I don't know how long I could go on with out her. I let the tears fall silently down my face as I leave a lingering kiss upon Lainey's cool lips, close my eyes, and wait for sweet death to take me from this world to where my princess awaits.
***
"Their love was strong, stronger than even fate. As we say goodbye to Brad and Lainey, may their love stay strong and keep them together in the after life.
Their love was a fairy tale as you have all seen. They were two halves of a whole. Even in death they left this world together only hours apart because they couldn't be without the other. Their hearts beat to the same rhythm and when my mother's heart stopped so did my fathers.
I know they have found each other again and I only hope to ever have the sort of love that transcends time and space such as theirs. We may have lost our parents, but I smile today knowing that they are looking down on us together with love."
>
The end...
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Also by Whitney Cannavina
Fate Unexpected
Fate (Coming Soon)
Romance Series
Starting Over
Looking For Love
Taken Series
Save Me
Break Me
Watch for more at Whitney Cannavina’s site.
Fate (Fate Unexpected, #1) Page 6
